After a couple of years of troubles it really looks like Panasonic is on the right path to finally make $$$ with the digital camera business. Nikkei interviewed Mr. Takuya Sugita from Panasonic and there are a couple of interesting info:
– The “luxury compact” and interchangeable lens “mirror-less” market is growing.
– Despite the previous crisis Panasonic decided to continue the digital camera business because they believe to be able to fight in the “new arena” (luxury compact and mirrorless).
– We will continue to evolve on lens and image sensor technology. And we will add technology that can not be realized on a smartphone.
– The sales of the Panasonic 4K cameras is strong. The exact number will not let obvious, but Panasonic says they are selling about 2.5 times more than expected!
– CM1 product planning has begun 1-2 years ago. It has been realized in conjunction with the digital camera and Panasonic Mobile Communication team.
Can’t wait to see their next financial report. Hopefully we will start to see first Black Numbers written on the Digital Camera financial report!
53 Responses
4K is a revolution in videography world that surely guarantee mass reward whoever pioneering the technology .
I’m not surprise with Pana’s mass selling with it’s GH series .
Let’s move up with the STILL now .
MCS & OrganicTechSensor ?
GlobalShutter ?
Another Nocticron ?
How about a stabilized nocticron 17.5mm at f/1.2. 🙂
Whatever branded by Nocticron is welcome although my favorite FL
are 12mm F1.2 & 75mm F1.2 .
A full line of Nocticrons would be nice. 7mm, 12mm, 17.5mm, 24mm, 42.5mm, 75mm, 150mm. there. done. 🙂
Do you really need stabilized lens with autofocus at 17.5mm? there is the nokton 17.5/0.95, less expensive and that’s a great lens.
before i bought my 17.5mm, i got the Leica 15/1.7, i was a little bit disappointed, not the same “effect” as like the great 25/1.4.
You mean the 15mm F1.7 and 25mm F1.7 .
What effect ?
Tell me more , as I just sold my 15mm F1.7 but want to buy back , interested to find out .
Sorry is 25mm F1.4 , LEICA DG Summilux .
If you ask me, the 25mm Summilux has the old Leica character, the 15mm has the new Leica character. The 25mm is a moody lens, the 15mm is a clinical one.
imo both af & is can help if you want to shoot wide open at portrait distances at such focal length . If its really needed , i dont think so
I think a 35mm ff equivalent lens should be stabilized for video. yep. below that, nope.
I actually think this is exactly the lens that Panasonic will release and it will be the same quality and size as 42.5mm. I think that’s why they went with 15mm for the current wide Leica (and 1.7 and no OIS to keep size down so it’s perfect companion for the GMs)
If the price is the same as the 42.5, then no. Lenses are far too expensive. How many people are thinking of spending so much money on an m43 prime?
Agree.
It seems like multiple camera companies are now declaring strong sales, specifically citing that they are selling “many more of the new model than expected,” without ever citing the actual sales numbers or the expected sales numbers. In short, they are saying nothing quantitative, while pretending they are. When you spike the football but don’t tell us the score, how are we to know that you are not just trying to fool us once again?
I like Panasonic products and have a few, but this sort of content-free fluff from corporate executives, while throwing the word “profitable” in the same sentence without giving any indication of actual margin, is transparent.
They have come out with nice products and I wish them the best. But show us, quit telling us.
I agree. This means pretty much nothing.
And even selling 2,5 as much as expected does not necessarily mean they are making profit at all.
So you think they made the camera expecting to make a loss? Panasonic’s been in business a long time and I suspect they don’t build many products with the expectation of taking a loss on them.
Note that “can be profitable” is not the same as “is profitable.” The implications are that it will take more than 2.5x expected sales to achieve real profitability.
As for “expecting to make a loss,” yes, Japanese companies can and do enter and stay in businesses making losses. They do much longer range planning that Western businesses, targeting products and industries that they think have long-term implications for them. At one point, the Japanese government was actively involved in this targeting.
On top of that, borrowing money in Japan is cheap and has been for awhile. I regularly see huge bond issues coming in at 1% or less. So the cost of money is low. This means that if you think that you can ratchet up to a 5% long term ROI (Panasonic’s current minimum target for its businesses), you can even borrow money to help you get there.
The real issue is “size of business.” As camera sales go down, the room for sustainable businesses goes down. We saw this pressure before in the 90’s as film camera sales had a similar drop. The net result was that we ended that period with quite a few companies under extreme financial pressure (Pentax and Minolta were sold, Olympus was hiding huge losses fraudulently, etc.). There’s little doubt in my mind that this will be replayed in digital.
The question is whether Panasonic will continue to be a player. I think yes, but mostly because they have a reasonably healthy pro video group that they get some scale and organizational benefit from (as does Sony with their still/video combination). It’s not a coincidence that the GH4 is a very good video camera. More important is whether cameras like the LX100 and GM5 have enough traction.
You mean 0 will make more profits than 2.5 times? Say whatever you like, but 2.5 times is closer to making a profit than 0 will ever be.
If you feel they have not shown you enough by now maybe you need to move on to another platform. GH4, FZ1000, LX100, GM5 have been a string of really well thought out products. I am guessing they are dropping the GF series due to the GM, and possibly the G series too (I hope not), but I can’t wait to see what they will do with the GX8.
I think camera companies are finally coming to grips with how phones have taken the bottom away and the money is in feature rich, high spec cameras that offer something to the real enthusiasts and professionals.
Agree!
In fact in production terms selling 2.5 times expected can be unprofitable in the short term. Supply contracts have to be renegotiated at short notice; additional staff have to be recruited and trained, or existing have to work longer premium hours; additional factory space has to be acquired and equipped. Once the initial rush is over how are you going to employ those additional resources.
Plus the marketing department wants sacking for inaccurate forecasts
On the long run, buying a GH4 is a system decision and most likely resulting in more sales in the future. The GH4 is not a one camera – one kit lens type of thing.
Gh4 production was upped to 5000 pcs/month from the original 2500 pcs a month initial supply.
Yes ,not exactly flying off the shelves between DSLRS + Mirrorless roughly 1.1
million interchagnebale lens camera a month ship meaning the GH4 production of 5000 units per month makes up a whopping 0.4% of the market . If expectations were low doubling them may not signify anything.
just say yay instead of doomthinking lol
Dont forget the early adopter of Lumix GH3….. give some update please….
The GH3 was the first GH camera that did not get a significant update. The GH1 and GH2 had 2 year runs but the GH3 was out for just over a year before the GH4. I thought we would get an update but now it looks like all focus is on the GH4.
I think the GH4 may have been a little slow to start with because of the hype with Oly E-M1 but as the GH4 was seen for what it had it soon got the sales & I’m glad to hear it, even though I only have Olympus gear.
I would say; use some of the profit to finish the 150mm f2.8 prime design. If they don’t, all the invested money is gone.
this happens now and then, canceling projects. But maybe an OIS 150 would make sense for some users though
Because of Oly’s 40-150mm constant aperture that force Pana to revise the plan .
I’m confident Pana will come out something but still no lens roadmap from Pana in 2014 .
A bit strange !
was the original 150 design with OIS? I bet it was right?
Yes .
All Pana tele lenses surely with OIS otherwise I doubt who going to buy it .
The minimum focal distance of the 35-100 2.8 X is ridiculous. I rather spend a premium on a 150 to 200 mm prime than buy a dedicated Olympus 60mm macro without IS.
Since it is technically perfectly possible to create a m43 150mm 2.8 prime with IOS, the only reason for canceling is the price.
If the price is the reason, i would like to mention the following RIDICULOUS prices;
– Olympus 7-14mm f4 (f8 on FF) which costs 1.429 € / 1.831 $ (imagine the price for the upcoming f2.8 version !)
– Olympus 40-150 f2.8 (f5.6 on FF) for 1.399 € / 1.793 $
– Olympus 300mm f2.8 (f5.6 on FF) for 6.499 € / 8.328 $
So, if Olympus is able to make a living with these lenses and prices, why can’t Panasonic ?
Just to point out the bleeding obvious… f4 is f4 no matter what you mount it on and the exposure is the same. It’s only f8 for DoF equivalence and if you care so much about that, you shouldn’t 😀
Just the obvious: FF area is four times larger, so not only DOF is different, noise is, too. Nevertheless, if it is a good as the 40-150 seems to be, Oly will have some nice zoom lenses.
Groan…. Do try and keep up….
The latest MFT bodies have quite good noise performance and of course once you start stopping FF down MFT can match the DoF at much wider apertures which enables you to use a much faster shutter speed or a lower ISO setting and thus negate in part or maybe in whole the noise advantage of FF.
Anyone who uses MFT and FF (I do) should be able to see the plus and minus points. If MFT doesn’t make sense for you then there’s nothing to see here… move on :o)
I didn’t say they are useless, I use both, too. It’s just that people always mention DOF as only difference, which isn’t true. You usually have a larger shooting envelope with FF, but at the price of size and weight.
These equivalence people are tiresome. The only thing that matters is the results. Larger DOF is not a bad thing, in my book.
It’s not bleeding obvious, it’s bleeding wrong. Sorry.
See, Olympus? This is how you become profitable, not spewing false hope of profitability, year after year. Panasonic goes out to do it and achieve it.
They said “CAN” be profitable. It’s all future tense…nothing now, all later…blah blah. Panasonic is going to get the crap beat out of them once Sony and now Samsung start pushing 4k down to lower end models. I hope they have their helmets on over their…bout to get spanked.
Until Sony devotes more effort into filling up their lens library with actual good lenses (like the great 55mm f1.8 SEL lens), there is no there, there. Samsung is the elephant in the room here and I think panasonic isn’t the only manufacturer to worry about them.
Sony doesn’t have a lens selection even close to M43 and Samsung has a big “?” looming over their cameras. But time may change this.
It’s not future tense, it is a statement. He says they are now already selling 2.5 times more than they anticipated.
Yeah, Olympus, listen to MrALLCRAP, the resident troll. He sure knows how to run a business.
And you sure know how to be a splendid shadow, that has the nerve to call someone ELSE a troll. LOL!
Do you even take pics?
Anyway, he is right. Imagine the E-M1 would have the GH4’s video capability. They would not even come close to produce for that demand.
The admission that they are surprised that a 4K camera would sell well when us videographers out here are eager for impressive resolution capabilities is kind of amazing.
I do think the Japanese photo divisions have been underestimating the global indy-film (wannabe) market. It’s just not what they’re used to dealing with. –They have developed specifically for it recently, but it’s taken awhile to make it happen.
When everyone already has a camera on their phone, they’re gonna have to shift their sales away from regular snapshooter to a more enthusiast market anyway…
Panasonic is wise to keep playing to their strengths. By pushing video as a differentiating factor, they probably only have Sony to worry about, as the other makers — Samsung included — have never been known for pro video tools. I see this as their continuing strategy, it’s just that 3D failed but it looks like 4K won’t. Well done, Panasonic.
*Canon is also known for pro video, but they don’t have a real mirrorless competitor yet
A tip to Panasonic: sell your cameras in say the 15 most important markets, and skip the rest. Sales will still be 90% of current sales, but you will save a lot because of reduced marketing and distribution costs.
The 15 countries where most consumer electronics products are sold are: US, China, Japan, Germany, Brazil, Russia, India, France, UK, Mexico, Italy, Spain, Canada, South Korea, Australia.